Dallas lawyer-artist Joanna Hogrefe is shaking up the art industry with Tempestuous, an online art space that allows art enthusiasts to purchase fine-art originals and authenticated, high-quality prints at reasonable price points.
Launched in March 2017, the concept creates a win-win for art makers and art lovers by providing artists with a platform to promote their work and collectors with an alternative to inflated gallery prices.
Leveraging her business and legal background, Hogrefe safeguards artists’ work by ensuring protection of property, legal rights to work, and providing ongoing royalties. Artists also keep 70 percent of the sale price of originals — practically unheard of in the industry.
The concept was born out of a 2016 trip to Europe that left Hogrefe pondering over the state of the art industry and wondering what she could do to improve it.
“The trip made me realize that, while art is one of the oldest professions, it hasn’t changed much over the last few hundred years,” says Hogrefe. “It certainly hasn’t kept up with the times.”
The site's art is sourced from all over the world, featuring a range of styles and mediums that represent artists “with differing backgrounds, aesthetics, and politics.” Tempestuous’ inaugural exhibit features five original pieces from Hogrefe herself, a collection of landscapes titled J’Arrive: A Vision of Place.
As the business grows, Hogrefe plans to take collections on the road, to high-profile festivals and pop-up galleries.
“I believe everyone is capable of creating art,” says Hogrefe. "That said, great art will make you feel vulnerable, upset, angry, happy, or any other emotion — but it will not leave you feeling indifferent. It may even make you feel multiple, conflicting emotions, conforming with the definition of ‘tempestuous.’”
The site provides artists with a platform to promote their work and collectors with an alternative to inflated gallery prices.
